


One Year Past Expiration

by csbanahan



Series: The End of Omnipotence [3]
Category: Sleepless Domain
Genre: F/F, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:54:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28941801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csbanahan/pseuds/csbanahan
Summary: A story about Olivia Smith's first proper birthday party.
Relationships: Olivia Smith/Candice Williams
Series: The End of Omnipotence [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2111685
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Olivia's legs were burning. Intentionally.  
  
Once the former Power Weapon was able to get herself situated in her new apartment she took it up herself to take advantage of her access to a gymnasium to rebuild her body after a lifetime of parental abuse/overdependance on magical powers. She hated being weak. Her attempts to exercise in her youth went poorly (as she had no idea how) but now armed with knowledge and the help of a lifelong fitness buff she was finally on the right track. At this moment in time she was doing her time on a recumbent bike  
  
"This sucks."  
  
"Oh you know, no pain, no gain and all that." Candi was on the bike next to her doing her own workout. Upon realizing that Olivia would be making a concerted effort to get into shape she decided she would do the same, if only to be there for her. Candi had more than a little 'chub' on her body and while this was never a source of shame for her she also realized that it might be for the best if she took steps to not become her father. All the same, Candi's workout seemed somewhat more relaxed than Olivia's.  
  
"How the fuck does she enjoy this?" Olivia stared across the room at Maria, who in the midst of her own exercise routine, which at the moment consisted of fairly heavy weights. "She's a beast"  
  
"Don't ask me I have no idea." Candi stared in the same direction; awed at the exercise beast in her natural habitat.  
  
"I hope she finishes her reps soon, I need to get mine in."  
  
"Then just do them, are you suddenly scared of Maria?"

"...Kinda. I mean not her obviously but just...I feel like such shit lifting next to her. Like a little baby or something."

"She is rather intimidating. Though I've heard it best to not compare yourself to others while working out."  
  
"That's nice. I'm still gonna." O said as she stopped her cycling. "Ok, enough of that for now. So now we play the waiting game..." The waiting game took about 10 minutes. Once Maria finished her reps and went to wipe the weights down she saw her two former upperclassmen and offered a friendly wave.  
  
"Why do people do that?"  
  
"A wave is a greeting for times where distance is too far for your voice to carry."  
  
Olivia let out a groan on the inside. "I mean wiping the machines down."

"Uhhhh, you're not doing that?"

"Am I supposed to?"  
  
"Maria forgot to tell you? You get all sweaty, the machines get all sweaty. Sweat is a great way to spread nasty infections."  
  
Olivia suddenly remembered Maria throwing that bit of information at her at the time when she was introducing her to all the different machines at the gym. "Shit I can't believe I forgot that."  
  
"Yeah...you probably should."  
  
After taking the time to actually wipe down the machine Olivia made her way to the weights. "Can you spot me when I do my benches?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Olivia didn't do the benches right away. She started with the dumbbells and did an entire (small) set of exercises. She was determined to improve so she probably did more than she should but accepting her limits was part of the process. She still couldn't help but feel deflated every time she felt her arms burn from what she considered 'the baby weights'. And of course Candi was right beside her doing her own (more restrained) lifts.

"So you just need a few 10 pounders for the bench right?" Candi said while doing curling reps with a pair of dumbells.

"Uh...yeah."

"See you're making progress. You started with just the bar."

Olivia still couldn't believe that Candi somehow made the time to visit her 3 times a week while she was in college. She has homework, she has exams, she has kitchen time. _What was she doing spending so much time here?'_ She even slept over on Saturdays. Saturday was coincidentally Olivia's favorite night of the week. They always shared the bed. She always held her tight. The warmth...the warmth...Olivia could only remember one time in her life when she was happier than when she when in Candi's arms. Her first night on Patrol. Her first night as a free girl. Her first real demonstration of agency. The night breeze was rapture. The rush she felt when pulled a chain out of her sleeve and destroyed her first monster, and her second...she thought her heart would explode. She wanted more...she needed more...she needed to fight monsters forever, to never go home again. No fear, not a drop. She had power now; nothing could ever hurt her again. But eventually the barrier went down and she realized she needed to sleep. So she grudgingly went home, but even then, even before seeing the things she saw that prompted her to action, she knew something had to give.

"Olivia you ok?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You just looked faraway there for a second."

How? How could Candi know her so well? For all fighting had defined her...Candi's _warmth_ was the first time in her life she preferred peace to war. It was the first time that not being to fight anymore felt ok. Over the months of failure that accommodated her attempts to fit in with society the facade she had built over her teen years fall apart. She wasn't the baddest bitch on the block anymore, she wasn't the rebel punk magical girl who didn't have to care about anything or anything anymore...and once she realized that every emotion she ever buried in the name of being that flooded back into her brain. She hated it. She couldn't stand being a mess. She hated crying. The only thing good about it in Olivia's eyes was that it made her realize how she truly felt about Candi, how she felt about Candi all along...it was amazing. And even more amazing is that this wonderful girl somehow stuck with her through all of it and even at the end of years of being shitty to her she would _still_ find the time to hold her like she was the most important thing in the world to her...she loved it. She loved _her._ Olivia couldn't even grasp the notion of love and still knew _she loved Candice Williams._ And the thought that maybe...just maybe Candi loved her back was...it was insane, beyond reason.  
  
  
Now... _in love._ Olivia wasn't sure she understood the difference.


	2. Chapter 2

"GOOD JOB!" The support continued from Candi as Olivia (barely) finished her reps.

"Fuck benchpresses suck. My arms are dead."

"No no, your arms are coming to life. Sometimes things need to be painfully torn apart before they can be rebuilt stronger than ever."

"Pretty blunt metaphor there Candi."

Candi smiled. "It is what it is. Can I shower at your place?" Candi never wanted to shower in the locker room. Of course Olivia knew why; who would want to risk showering with others if it could be avoided? Of course whenever they left the gym they both needed to shower, which put a thought or two in Olivia's head. She had a lot of thoughts in her head recently.

"I mean yeah, obviously." Olivia almost sputtered. Almost.

"Well come on then." Candi started excitedly tugging at Olivia's arm. She seemed very excited to take a shower... Again, more thoughts.

It wasn't far from the balcony gym door to Olivia's apartment. But it was long enough for honestly wonder why the hell Candi was so excited.

"By the way Olivia." Candi replied as Olivia put her apartment key in the lock. Don't think I forgot your...

The door opened, Candi's timing was perfect.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

There was decorations, and cake, and presents, and people. Not many people, but far more than the zero Olivia was expecting to see. Maria and Mama Alvarez were there, as were two younger teens Olivia didn't recognize. But as soon as she could collect her thoughts she could easily figure out who they were. The sentiment of the moment shook her.

"Holy...shit."

"Language young lady." Mama Alvarez came over arms spread, awaiting confirmation. A small nod from Olivia resulted in a huge bear hug for her newest surrogate daughter. A hug Candi joined in on. Two different kinds of warmth; both wonderful in their own ways.

"How did any of you even know about my birthday. I didn't think I ever even told anyone."

"You told me last year remember? When we graduated and you were getting nervous about losing your powers."

Olivia remembered that. She remembered being angry rather than nervous but she remembered it.

"And you remembered?"

"Of course Silly. Now come here and let me show you all the pastries I made for the occasion." Candi brought Olivia towards the kitchen, where her scrumptious pastries lay on the table. Olivia was excited to find her beloved raspberry tarts there though she wondered...'how did Candi get that this is my favorite food ever from 'yeah these are ok I guess you don't completely suck at baking'. Regardless, she did and they were there...waiting. But they would have to wait a little longer and Maria barred the path.

"Hey Olivia sorry but I invited the girls. Lily heard 'birthday party' and wouldn't stop until I let her come." Maria whispered. "Besides I thought you might want to meet my new partners."

So Olivia was right; the two teens were the missing pieces of Maria's new team. It wasn't exactly difficult to tell because Maria had told her one of them was wheelchair-bound before. "It's fine. Be kind of a lame party with only the 3 of you anyway." The last words were muffled as Olivia passed around Maria and stuffed a raspberry tart into her mouth.

"Thanks a bunch Olivia. I would have asked you but you know...surprise party."

"Fel fem fo hal hemsefs" Olivia was in raspberry tart heaven. She hadn't eaten them since graduation. At the time Candi said there were more at her parents house. But then even raspberry tarts couldn't lure her there.

"Don't talk with you mouth full! What di..." Mama Alvarez stopped short of ' _d your mother teach you'_? She didn't know the whole story, but she knew Olivia had an abusive childhood. She had just forgotten it for a moment.

Olivia quickly swallowed the mouthful of tart in her mouth. "Help yourselves girls...but stay away from the raspberry tarts."

"Arn't you going to save any room for the cake? I made it myself." Olivia knew Candi made all this by herself so the cake wasn't special in that regard.

"The cake is a diversion. Everybody gets full on cake, leaving the raspberry tarts to me."

"It's triple chocolate. Have a piece? Please." The ripples of Candi's please shook Olivia's foundations.

"Alright." Olivia turned around to see Maria gobbling a huge chunk of it. "Maria...isn't that junk food against your healthy lifestyle?"

"Fo oo ave ane i..."

"Don't talk with your mouth full Maria. Were you raised in a zoo?" In response to this Maria stuck her arm out like an elephant's trunk and waved it up and down while making what could be loosely considered the sound an elephant makes; only more chocolately. Olivia could see a few chunks of cake spray out of her mouth. This got a rise out of both Lily and Alexis.

"Madre, such bratty children I have. Candi, do you do this at home?"

"No I don't mama, I always make sure to chew and swallow my food before talking." However much Olivia's feelings towards Candi may have changed she couldn't help taking a shot.

"Kiss-ass" she whispered to Candi in a far gentler tone than she had intended. Rather than taking offense and getting defensive Candi just chuckled.

"So anyway." Maria continued having finally choked down her cake. "I burn so many calories at the gym not only can I eat whatever I want I sorta have to. Ideally protein and carbs of course but sometimes cake too."

"You should see her when she starts carbo loading. She ate 10 Denby's hamburgers in one sitting before and washed it down with a gallon of milk." Ma added.

"Yup, that's how you get the big gains." Maria flexed her bicep, prompting some kind of primal instinct in Lily which caused her to immediately try to hang off of it like the branch of a tree. To Olivia's surprise Maria briefly held her up before letting her down. "Ow Lily, I'm still sore from working out."

"Sorry" Lily looked down and sorta pouted a bit before going to help herself to cake. Getting a closer look at her face Olivia felt like she knew this girl from...somewhere. Olivia decided to take this opportunity to placate Candi and sate her curiosity. Going to the table under the pretense of chocolate she took the opportunity to introduce herself.

"You look familiar, do I know you from somewhere?" To Olivia's surprise a glint of anxiety sparked in Lily's eyes.

"Oh goodness you're not still mad are you I'm sorry." Lily shrunk back as she asked, leaving the knife half in the cake.

"Why should I be mad at you?"

"You told me that I should die in a house fire last time you talked to me..." Something was starting to dawn on Olivia, an inferno danced in Maria's eyes.

"WHAT THE FUCK OLIVIA? WHEN DID YOU..."

"It was years ago Maria relax. At least I think it was years ago." Olivia quickly remembered going to this place that was making a card game or something that wanted to bring her in to ask a few questions about her powers. It was money and nobody was going to ask her any personal questions...at least not on the record. But then... _but then..._ "Are you the girl from the card game place?"

Lily was Demure "yes ma'am. Cardboard Creations, makers of Magical Girl Power Battle among many other games...my dad works there. He works with magical girls a lot. If you've ever come there to talk to him you've probably talked to me too. It was 4 years ago, for the development of your first card. I guess I got you mad or something and you yelled at me."

Maria was not exactly calm. "You told a 10 year old to die in a fire?"

Olivia did not address Maria directly. "Yeah, sorry Lily. I'll admit you were kind of annoying me but that was out of line. Don't worry. I'm not mad at you anymore. Thank you for coming to my party."

Lily's fear had turn to awe. " ** _The_** _Power Weapon_ just apologized...to me? This is amazing." Lily stared at Olivia with doe-eyed wonder.

"Yeah, I guess she did. But um, Lily, can you do me a favor and just call me Olivia from now on? I'm not a magical girl anymore and I haven't felt like Power Weapon in a long time."

Maria still looked somewhat incredulous and Olivia finally addressed it. "Maria you teamed with me for 2 years. You have a pretty good clue who I was so this shouldn't surprise you too much. I mean you want me to apologize to you for something I did 2 years before we met that's fine but I mean still, four years ago when I was...y'know... _me_."

"Yeah... _yeah."_ Maria looked like she was doing mental laundry. "You were pretty badass. I thought it was awesome that you were rude and didn't give a..." Maria looked at her mom "poop. But then you hear about something like this and you're reminded that giving a poop is good sometimes. It's fine. Thank you for apologizing to Lily."

Lily finished cutting the cake and just as she shoved the first forkful into her mouth Olivia knew what she had to do to lighten the mood.

"So Lily, Maria tells me your powers are pretty wild."

"Ogoth deyre tho amathen"

"Do you all eat and talk like pigs? _Madre_ , I inherited a zoo." Mama Alvarez was at her wits end with this particular pet peeve.

"Thury mhma Ihl thrullo mah cahk firth" As Lily said this, Mama could only laugh at this weird oblivious little Gremlin her daughter had adopted.

"Uh hey can I have some cake? I wanna eat with my mouth full too but it's cramped in here and I can't maneuver well." Alexis said from the other side of the living room.

"Oh uh...sure. Here you go wheels." Olivia said as she cut a piece and gave it to Alexis.

Alexis didn't really care how badass the birthday girl used to be or how messed up she is now, she hated being called 'wheels'.

"Thanks shrapnel-face."

Olivia smirked. _"This one is ok"_ she thought as she finally got a slab of chocolate cake of her own. In Olivia's expert opinion it was quite good, amazing really, but still no match for those raspberry tarts.

"Oh hey can somebody pass me something to drink, no way I can make it to the fridge." Alexis really didn't want to come off as needy but it was a problem when she needed things and couldn't get them herself.

Candi took the initiative "Alright there's milk in the fridge but I also brought a cooler of my dad's soda too."

"Did you ask his permission? Will he find out you took it?" Lily asked with genuine concern.

"Oh no no, my dad is Pops."

Alexis looked bemused "yes most dads are pops."

"No I mean...POPS!" Candi took a soda out of the cooler. It was a glass bottle branded 'POPS Soda: Sour Apple'. "My dad runs the pops soda company."

"Another bigshot business man!" Lily said excitedly. "Maybe your dad and my dad can do some sort of cross-promotion."

"oh no no. My dad hates marketing. He prefers to get by on word of mouth and quality of his product."

"So that must be why stores don't sell much of it." Lily said. If she wasn't so obliviously innocent this could be taken as an insult.

"It's a small company for a niche product. Some people look for something different in the soda aisle and that's what my dad provides."

Olivia looked impressed. "Wow your dad is the pops soda guy?"

"I've told you before...remember."

Now Olivia got to feel like a huge asshole to somebody she no longer wanted to be an asshole to.

"I'm sorry Candi I just don't remember us ever talking about it."

"It's ok, I know how it goes. You like Creamsickle right?"

"How did you..."

"We've talked about it before." Candi simply smiled as she opened the bottle for her friend.

As Olivia was starting to wonder if she had legitimate memory issues Alexis chimed in.

"Do you have milk, or even water? Sorry but soda goes awful with cake."

The party continued on like this, as parties do. A relaxed time of baked goods, weird sodas and mostly positive social interactions. Olivia had been to a few parties in her day. They were...different. She liked this one. It felt warm in its own way. She worried a bit about Maria babysitting Lily out in the street, saw a bit of herself in Alexis's snarkiness; like maybe something she could have been if she had grown up in anything resembling a normal environment. Spending more time around Mama Alvarez was great. Even when she reprimanded you she obviously did it with love; even though Olivia couldn't quite _feel_ it yet it felt good to know that when she called Olivia her daughter she really seemed to mean it. Watching Maria interact with Alexis and Lily was such a trip; she always knew Maria as a headstrong, somewhat immature girl who looked up to her and Candi, especially her. But with the girls suddenly _she_ was the 'grown up' and their dynamic really hashed it out. She was completely different. And Candi...Olivia was still upset about forgetting about the Pops thing. Did she honestly pay _that_ little attention to her? Did she pay that little attention to everything? Did she spend all of her teen years burying the past every single day in the name of living in the present? Her momentary rumination was startled by Mama Alvarez.

"Let's get the presents with. Maria, you have homework and the girls have to patrol soon. And I'm not so young, it's almost my bedtime."

"Presents?" Maria had heard people got presents on their birthday but wasn't sure if it was actually true or not.

"Of course presents." Candi said with a mote of exhilaration in her face. "You didn't think you didn't have any presents did you?"

"I didn't really think about it."

The presents came hard and fast. Mama Alvarez gave her a fresh set of linens and two new pillows. She had been borrowing older ones from Maria and Ma thought it was high time she had a fresh set of her own. Maria decided to encourage Olivia's gym habits but giving her some personal equipment; sweatbands, a fancy water bottle that keeps your water cold for a long time, and some ankle weights in case she ever wanted to get off the treadmill and run outside.

Even though Lily and Alexis didn't have to bring gifts they did anyway. Lily gave Olivia a custom-made _Magical Girl Power Battle_ deck; featuring Team Power. Olivia gave the cards a once-over as an act of politeness, obviously not telling Maria that card games weren't really her thing. She had to admit the cards looked good. But then she saw the artist's rendering of her and froze solid. It was the first time she had seen herself as Power Weapon since she lost her powers. Her body froze. She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to stare at herself as she was, in her power and her glory. Her body felt like a lifeless frozen void. Everything she was, everything she lost...just staring her in her face. She thanked Lily for the gift and gently slid the cards back into their box, silently promising herself to never look at it again even as Lily was telling her something about tournaments. After that Olivia was grateful that Alexis simply owned up to the fact that she didn't know her well enough to get her anything personal so she just gave her money.

"Mmmmyyyyy Tuuuuuuurn." Candi said, emerging from Olivia's bedroom with several packages.

"All this? Candi this is way too much."

"It was nothing really. Open them."They were all clothes. A few shirts, a few pants, a blouse and a skirt. None of them were super fancy but none of them were stuff that she would wear. She didn't understand..why would Candi get these for her?

"Candi...why..." Olivia was so confused. She almost felt betrayed. Candi seemed to know her better than she knew herself, how could she do... _this._

"I know it's not your normal fashion. But that's the point right? It's a transformative act. While you're changing your inside try changing your outside a bit. Who knows, you might like while you see. You don't have to be tied down to what you're _supposed_ to look like. You can be anything or anybody! I mean you don't have to if you don't want to. I have all the receipts, just say the word and _whoosh_ all this can go back to the store. I won't be offended, promise."

Olivia could feel the tide rise in her eyes. _No, not here. Not in front of the babies._

 _"_ Thank you Candi." She managed to whisper. 

Mama Alvarez's mom senses were starting to twinge. "Alright, it's about time to wrap this up. Maria, Candi said you and the girls split up the sweets amongst yourselves so long as you don't touch the raspberry tarts."

"Awww, but there's like 4 left..." Lily heard Olivia make such a big deal out of the tarts she really wanted to try one.

"It's ok Lily; I don't actually need to eat all of them. You can have one." Lily silently rejoiced as she grabbed one off the table and promptly shoved half of it into her mouth...it was gross. But if Olivia saw her spit it out that would just be _so_ rude so she did her best to choke down the pastries while rationing out the others with Alexis and Maria.

"Candi you're keeping the soda up here tonight?" Ma asked.

"You can take whatever you want but yeah I'll deal with the rest later."

"Can I have a bubblegum soda for the road?" Lily asked, her mouth still half-full.

"She just said you could." Alexis said. 

Lily didn't even say anything else; she grabbed the soda and the bottle opener, popped the top, and drank half of it to wash the taste of tart out of her mouth. "You want one Alexis."

"I'm good." Alexis obviously had the good sense to not say " _Pops soda sounds like the grossest shit on the planet_ " anywhere Candi could hear. Or Olivia for that matter. Or Maria. Or even Lily because Lily would probably blab.

A few minutes after everybody was done packing up Mama ushered everybody out the door.

"We're off, get some sleep girls."

"Wait, where are we going? There's not enough time for us to go all the way home just to meet up again for patrol" Alexis asked as they were leaving.

"We'll watch a movie or something." Maria said, having caught onto the vibe of what was going on.

As the door closed Olivia could barely hear Lily's voice from the other side.

"Hey Alexis, do you want half a raspberry tart?"

"Cute kids." Olivia said. In the time the party was getting ready to leave Olivia tried to make herself look useful by organizing the gift boxes, but really the gifts were the last thing on her mind.

A concerned Candi went over to Olivia. "I'm really sorry if you don't like the clothes. I knew I was taking a risk. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"What are you sorry for? They're great. It's a wonderful sentiment Candi. You've done so much for me today." The tide was coming in but Olivia couldn't understand why; she wasn't sad, not at all. She was just so overwhelmed and couldn't deal with it. "I'm sorry Candi I'm not sure what's happening but I need a minute."

"It's ok Olivia, you've had a long day. I could tell you were getting overwhelmed there. Whatever you got inside you just let it out ok?" Candi sat Olivia on the couch and sat down herself within hip-touching distance. Then, Olivia literally cried on her shoulder.

"I don't get it." Olivia said while blubbering. "Today was a good day. Why...am...I...crying?" Even as she was weeping she could feel _the warmth_ radiating outwards from Candi.

"Sometimes people cry when they're happy too."

"They do? Well that's stupid." The warmth. The unflinching absolute warmth. She could feel it dry the tears from her cheeks. She wanted to bask in this divine sun forever. She wanted to hold it forever.

Olivia hadn't even realized she had wrapped her arms around Candi. And in that moment...

"Candi. I didn't expect a party or cake or tarts...I definitely didn't expect gifts. But after all that I think there's something I _really_ want for my birthday."

"I wish you could have told me so I could have gotten that for you."

Olivia grinned a coy smile. "oh don't worry, I'll get it myself."

And just like that Olivia's lips touched Candis.

If Candi's body was the warmth of dawn her lips were a the heat of a nuclear inferno wrapped in the comfort of the cradle. Her soul ignited, every synapse burst into flames. Her heart pumped molten lava into her extremities. She was going to ascend to heavens, become one of the twinkling lights in the night. It was amazing. It was feeling beyond feeling. It was the sensation of mortal transcendence. 

And then it ended. Once the fires burned out a fear crept in _"Did I go too far?"_

"I'm...um...I'm sorry if I stole your first kiss." Olivia didn't know what to say. She was pretty sure that wasn't it regardless.

"Sorry Olivia but Clyde Harris beat you to that in 7th grade. This was my 2nd."

"Oh well...um...good then. Good."

Candi then pressed her forehead against Olivia's so their noses were touching.

"But I wish you had." She whispered sweetly. "Tell you what, to make it up to you you can have my 3rd as well."

Another kiss, but with a hint of aggression. in the heart of the inferno Olivia's heart felt at ease...Candi wanted this as bad as she did. But when the inferno cooled more doubts crossed her mind.

"Candi, I still don't know if I know how to love somebody. Just know...just know I _absolutely_ don't want to give you away."

Candi looked confused. "Was that an option?"

Olivia smirked "No I guess not."

There was a sudden pause between the two. Olivia broke the awkward silence.

"Um...I don't really know what we're supposed to do next."

"I think it's kinda like the clothes...anything we want to really."

"I'm still not quite sure how to love you Candi. I just know I do."

"You're getting off to a pretty good start." Candi smiled. She knew O wasn't ready to grasp their situation as a romantic relationship. And that was ok. She'd figure it out. "For now I think we should make your bed with your new sheets and stuff so we can sleep all comfy tonight?"

"We? You know it's Tuesday and not Saturday right?"

"Oh like I'd leave you alone on your birthday, now come on."

It was the happiest Olivia had ever been to make a bed.


End file.
